My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
My people.
Hosea 4:12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
destroyed.
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
2 Chronicles 15:3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
because.
1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
Proverbs 1:30-32 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof…
Isaiah 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
I will also reject.
Zechariah 11:8,9,15-17 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me…
Malachi 2:1-3,9 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you…
Matthew 21:41-45 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons…
seeing.
Hosea 8:14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
Hosea 13:6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.
2 Kings 17:16-20 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal…
Because you have rejected knowledge,
The rejection of knowledge is a willful act, indicating that the people and their leaders, particularly the priests, have turned away from God's teachings. This rejection is not due to ignorance but a deliberate choice to ignore God's commandments and pursue their own desires. This mirrors the warnings given in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, where choosing life and prosperity is linked to loving and obeying God.
I will also reject you as My priests.
The priests in Israel were responsible for teaching the law and guiding the people in worship and obedience to God. By rejecting knowledge, they failed in their duties, leading to God's rejection of them. This is a fulfillment of the covenant curses outlined in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, where disobedience leads to loss of privilege and position. The priesthood was meant to be a type of Christ, the ultimate High Priest, who perfectly mediates between God and humanity (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
Forgetting the law implies neglect and disregard for God's commandments, which were meant to guide the Israelites in righteousness and justice. The law was central to the covenant relationship between God and Israel, as seen in Exodus 19:5-6. This forgetfulness is not accidental but a result of persistent disobedience and idolatry, as seen throughout the prophetic books.
I will also forget your children.
This phrase indicates the generational consequences of rejecting God. The sins of the parents affect their descendants, as seen in Exodus 20:5, where God warns of the iniquity of the fathers being visited upon the children. This is not a denial of individual responsibility but a recognition of the communal and generational impact of sin. The hope, however, lies in repentance and turning back to God, who is merciful and willing to restore (Joel 2:12-13).
Hosea opens with a tragedy: God’s covenant people are being “destroyed,” not by superior armies or economic collapse, but by spiritual ignorance.
• “Knowledge” here is relational—knowing the Lord and His ways (Jeremiah 9:24; John 17:3).
• When that knowledge disappears, moral restraint collapses (Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint”).
• Isaiah 5:13 echoes the same verdict: “Therefore My people go into exile for lack of knowledge.”
• Destruction is certain because truth has been traded for half-truths and idols (Romans 1:21-23).
The blindness is not accidental; it is chosen.
• 2 Kings 17:15 describes Israel’s history of rejecting God’s statutes and becoming “worthless like the nations around them.”
• Jeremiah 6:19 warns, “Behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have not listened to My words.”
• Turning from God’s Word is a deliberate act of the will. What we refuse to hear, we eventually lose the capacity to hear (Matthew 13:15).
God’s response matches Israel’s choice.
• Israel was called “a kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), and the Levitical priests were to teach the law (Leviticus 10:11).
• By forsaking that duty, they disqualified themselves (Malachi 2:1-9).
• 1 Samuel 2:30 records the principle: “Those who honor Me I will honor, but those who despise Me will be disdained.”
• Rejection does not nullify God’s promises; it removes unfaithful stewards from service (Romans 11:22).
Forgetting is more than a memory lapse; it is neglect.
• Deuteronomy 8:11 warns, “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments.”
• The law was to be read publicly every seven years (Deuteronomy 31:10-13). Neglecting it meant silencing God’s voice.
• Jeremiah 18:15 laments, “My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to worthless idols.”
• When Scripture is sidelined, culture, family, and worship unravel (Psalm 119:109-110).
The consequences overflow to the next generation.
• Exodus 20:5: “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.”
• Lamentations 2:11-12 pictures children fainting in the streets because of covenant breach.
• Jesus affirms generational accountability in Matthew 23:35-36.
• Yet God’s “forgetting” is judicial, not absent-minded; repentance can still reverse the sentence (Joel 2:12-14).
Hosea 4:6 is a sobering equation:
Rejected knowledge → priestly disqualification → generational loss.
God’s truth, faithfully learned and lived, is life-preserving. When His people trade that truth for self-made ideas, destruction follows. The remedy is the reverse process: remember the law, receive the knowledge of God, and gladly serve as His priests, passing a living heritage of faith to the children who follow.
(6) For lack of knowledge, which you, O priest, should have kept alive in their hearts. The knowledge of God is life eternal. (Comp. John 17:3.) The Lord's "controversy" repudiates the entire priesthood, as they had rejected the true knowledge of God. They had inclined to calf-worship, had been vacillating respecting Baal, and had connived at moral offences. If, on the other hand, with most commentators, we consider the people themselves as thus addressed, the passage refers to the cessation of the position of priesthood, which every member of the true theocracy ought to have maintained. (Comp. Exodus 19:6.) The people should no longer be priests to Jehovah.Verse 6. - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Here the verb is plural and its subject singular, because, being collective, it comprehends all the individual members of the nation. The word כדמו is rendered(1) by Jerome in the sense of "silence:" "conticuit populus incus," which he explains to mean "sinking into eternal silence." So also the Chaldee.
(2) The LXX., understands it in the sense of "likeness:" "My people are like (ὡμοιώθη) as if they had no knowledge." Aben Ezra disproves this sense as follows: "This word, if it were from the root signifying 'likeness,' would have after it el with seghol, as, 'To [el with seghol] whom art thou like in thy greatness?' (Ezekiel 31:2); but without the word el it has the meaning of ' cutting off.'" So Kimchi: "Here also it has the sense of 'cutting off.'" The article before "knowledge" implies renewed mention and refers to the word in ver. 1; or it may emphasize the word as that knowledge by way of eminence, which surpasses all other knowledge, and without which no other knowledge can really prove a blessing in the end. The knowledge of God is the most excellent of all sciences. Paul counted all things but loss in comparison with its possession; and our blessed Lord himself says, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent;" while the Prophet Isaiah attributed the captivity to its absence: "My people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge." Because thou hast rejected knowledge... seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy Son. The cause of this ignorance is here charged on the unfaithfulness of the priesthood. They rejected knowledge and forgot the Law of their God. The two concluding clauses of this verse may be regarded as "split members" of a single sentence. As rejection implies the presence of the object rejected, while forgetfulness implies its absence from the mind or memory, some have understood rejection of knowledge as the sin of the priest, and forgetfulness that of the people. This separation is not necessary, for what men continue for a time to despise they will by-and-by forget. The forgetfulness is thus an advance upon rejection. The sin of these priests was very great, for, while the priests' lips were required to keep knowledge, they neither preserved that knowledge themselves nor promoted it among the people; hence the indignant and direct address. Thus Kimchi says: "He addresses the priestly order that existed at that time: Thou hast rejected he knowledge for thyself and to teach it to the people, consequently I will reject thee from being a priest unto me. Since thou dost not exercise the office of priest, which is to teach the Law, I will reject thee so that thou shalt not be a priest in my house." I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me... I will also forget thy children, even I. The punishment resembles the offence; the human delinquency is reflected in the Divine retaliation. To make this the more pointed, the "thou on thy part (attah)" at the head of the sentence has its counterpart, or rather is counterbalanced by the "even I" or "I too (gam ani)" at its close. The severity of the punishment is augmented by the threat that, not only the then existing priests, but their sons after them, would be excluded from the honor of the priesthood. This was touching painfully the tenderest part. It needs scarcely be observed that forgetfulness is only spoken of God in a figurative sense, and after the manner of men, that being forgotten which is no longer the object of attention or affection. "The meaning of אשׁ," says Kimchi, "is by way of figure, like the man who forgets something and does not take it to heart." The unusual form אֶמְאָסְאָך has been variously accounted for. The Massorites mark the aleph before caph as redundant; it is omitted in several manuscripts of Kennicott and De Rossi, as also some of the early printed editions. Kimchi confesses his ignorance of its use. Olshausen treats it as a copyist's error; but Ewald "regards it as an Aram-seen pausal form." Some take the reference to be to Israel as a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6) rather than to the actual priesthood.
Parallel Commentaries ...